You're Hideous and Sexy
by OnehitWonder7777777
Summary: This is story of how Cleo and Deuce fell in love. It didn't take long, but they're both wonderfully difficult. Also Clawdeen& Draculaura being secretively 'helpful'. 4 Tellmeprettylies.
1. Chapter 1

This is for Tellmeprettylies

This isn't going to be as fun as it could be because all the best characters weren't around until after this story happened. But this isn't for all the others; this is for a ship that could use some canons.

Oh, and I cannot keep up with the puns like the pros can. So if you try to be a nerd and correct me on how things are really called then go ahead- I know how to work a delete button.

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In the Wolfe family living room there was a bookshelf of Monster High Fearbooks. The Katy Scary concert was still a few hours away so Frankie took down the Fearbook of the year before she enrolled.

She was flipping through the pages of "Voted Most Likely…" when she came across a picture that shocked her so much her bolts almost set fire to the Wolfes' couch.

Clawdeen was putting the curlers in Draculaura's hair when they were interrupted by a door busting open.

"Who- when- how the- say what?!" Frankie couldn't form the rights words because it was such a freaky situation.

"Frankie, are your stitches loose? I got a needle around here some where." Clawdeen looked around the corners of her room.

"Why didn't anyone ever tell me about this?!" Frankie put the Fearbook page to their faces, a finger pointing to the picture that disturbed her.

The two ghouls looked at what she was shrieking about, then started laughing.

"Dalk about back from de grave!" Draculura's tried to cover her little fangs as she giggled.

Through the chuckling, the werewolf said, "We never did make it up to Deuce for that, but it's been sooo long!"

"You guys went on Photo-Chop-Shop and made this to hurt Deuce? What could've ever happened to make you guys do this!" Frankie was almost scared of what they weren't telling her.

"Ghoul, relax there's an explanation for all this. But I gotta warn you; it's doesn't have a very happy ending." Clawdeen warned her, as the little vampire took Frankie's hand to pat it soothingly.

Being the leader of the Fearleading squad was an honor and a burden. Cleo loved the power- any kind will do- and had the most talent and creativity of anyone else on the team. She was the best ghoul for the job. Yet despite all her qualifications and the unspoken respect she got from the squad, their former captain (and beetle in her moisturizer) her sister, Nefra, continued to talk down to her about how to rule.

Standing in the shadows was not was Princesses did and both princesses refused to let the other have a spot in the sun. Even if Nefra had graduated Monster High and wasn't even in the country, she kept tabs on Cleo. And kept Cleo informed of whom she'd never live up to.

Talking this with a grain of salt, Cleo stayed beautiful and on top of the pressure. Nefra was in her head, but not in Cleo's way to reign in this school.

To serve her in this great rule was the ever-loyal brains behind the operation: Ghoulia. Never spoke but had enough ingenuity to keep the empire in Cleo's head running smooth as silk.

Also there was the Top Dog on campus, and the best boyfriend a girl could hope to catch: Clawd. Clawd was a great boyfriend; popular, handsome, tall, cleans up nice when you tell him the right things to wear. On the arm of any ghoul he'd make the couple look good. With Cleo de Nile on arm, there were already baby-books filled with their imagined beautiful mutant babies.

As far as looks went, they were the best. Yep, they complimented each other nicely, Clawd respected Cleo's vanity and she respected his uncontrollable enthusiasm for sports. In public, they were always looking very nice.

When not in public, they respected each other's differences more by not bothering one another until situation called for it.

It was outside the Wolfe's house, Clawd was playing ball with a new pal of his. The guy was good, knew how to play hard without ever letting his sunglasses slip off. Clawd recommended he go out for the team, but snake-haired boy politely let him down; something about not being into competition and all that. He had a good humor about him too; Clawd liked that and invited him to watch the televised game at Cleo's house.

"Since when do you have a girlfriend?" The gorgon asked as he threw his friend the casket ball.

Clawd hadn't noticed he never mentioned her before. "For a while now. I didn't tell you?"

"Nope, known you for a month and I the only women mentioned were your sisters, mother, grandma, teachers and that gnome neighbor." Deuce wasn't being pushy, just honestly curious about the lack of ghoulfriend talk.

Clawd modestly shrugged. "I have more sisters than girlfriends- unlike some other dudes I can point to round here." The werewolf smirked at he threw the ball in the hoop.

"So I date, it's fun." The snakes on his head hissed in agreement.

"If it were a sport, you'd be pro right about now." Clawd joked, and then went a little serious in wonder; "I don't get how you do it- one ghoul after another after another."

"I'm not Jack the Ripper, just a dude who gets bored easy." Not wanting to sound like he was bragging about boring old stuff, Deuce tried to lighten it. "Some of us haven't been hit by Cupid yet."

Clawd didn't comment; he roughly threw the ball at Deuce. It was all for play, Clawd gave a growl, Deuce's hair gave a hiss and then he accepted the invite to the De Nile House.

By Cleo's loud request, Clawd's friends were all to take their shoes off before entering her home. Her servants made the large living room 'guest appropriate' but Cleo still demanded that they touch as little as possible.

The TV was the center of attention, not her, so Cleo wasn't having as much at this pow-wow as she should've. She watched her boyfriend cheer and punch his friends. The mummy tried to get his attention by putting on better clothes or complaining she needed things but didn't gain his attention so she pouted on the love seat.

Remembering pouting was not what future queens did; Cleo tried to strike up conversation with a girlfriend that came along. Unfortunately, none of the ghouls that came along were dressed well enough to talk to.

Bored to tears, Cleo walked hotly into her kitchen. She'd usually ask someone else to get her a snack, but she needed the excuse to leave the room.

In her kitchen she saw someone with the fridge door open. Not giving anyone permission to be that welcomed in her family home, Cleo made an 'ah-hem' sound, very loudly.

The guest raised his green head, and looked at the ghoul.

Depending on the perspective, you could think the first meeting went two ways.

One way had the two young monsters just looked at one another. The Mummy's daughter having her teal eyes examined in dedication no one had ever attempted before, and no one could ever compare to. Looking past the cool sunglasses, Medusa's son felt like he was being seen through- it didn't feel bad at all.

The other way was Cleo saw this stranger as a rude guest that needed a good verbal-spanking.

"Do you need a sign that says only drink what's provided to you?" She drily asked.

"Miss De Nile I presume, very nice place you have here." Deuce couldn't say the same for her hostess skills.

"Amazing you can see that through those foggy glasses; we're inside in case no one's told you that either." She put her hands on her hips, waiting for him to close her fridge and apologize.

"I could take them off, but I wouldn't enjoy being responsible for you being cold, hard and unhuggable." Underneath the glasses he was eyeing her up and down; nice package but terrible mouth_. I mean the lips are full and great, and what comes out of them…_

With her high eyebrows narrowing, Cleo just nearly screeched. "Are you implying something!?"

"No, I wasn't intentionally. Sorry if that's how you received it." He finally closed the fridge door, not wanting to get into a confrontation with his friend's ghoul. He had a cup in hand; the gorgon went to the fridge for ice.

"Do you know whom you are talking to!?" She said loud enough that she knew Clawd and the others could hear her.

"Gods, you can hit octaves." He was about to calmly sip his cup and leave her before she got too upset. "I'll let myself out, ma'm"

Deuce meant the ma'm thing to be polite- Cleo thought he was calling her old. In all truth, she was over five thousand years old, but only a jerk would call her a hag as he just had.

She took his cup and splashed it in his face. "Now you are permitted to leave."

A girl had never done that to him before. If she were a dude Deuce might've decked him; but she was a girl…a babe even.

"Nice meeting you." Deuce took off his glass, and with his eyes shut he wiped his glasses on his shirt.

Walking past the fuming Cleo, Deuce called out for a girl named Elflen.

A part of Cleo felt guilty for letting her temper get hold of her like that- the majority of her remembered she was royalty and that was license to do whatever she wanted; everyone else just had to work around her.

…

Deuce was unimpressed by cheerleaders because an ex-girlfriend-ballerina. The relationship only lasted a week and a half but he heard enough about how inefficient cheerleaders were in the preforming arts world to be sick of bubble-brained cheerleaders and pretentious ballerinas.

But what they lacked in preforming skill, they made up for in lack of skirt.

The ghoul Deuce went to the field for was a funny Cyclops named Tilly. Noticing Cleo's screeching voice, Deuce smirked a little. He waited until she told them to take a very short break, took a drink out of a blue-long-haired zombie girl and said,

"So do you squirt water when these poor girls mess up, or I am just lucky?"

She didn't turn around, but he saw Cleo raise her head- probably to angle her nose higher. "Ghoulia, tell the beetle in my smoothie to bug off."

The cute little zombie moaned nicely, "It's best you don't stick around."

"I'm not gonna, I just wanted to apologize for, ya know, what happened" He smiled kindly and added, "Could you tell her that?"

"Will you accept his apology?" Ghoulia asked in a slow moan; it didn't take away from the intelligence in her eyes.

Ghoulia noticed Cleo's eyes change size for a second. For a much longer time she stayed on her high hippogriff. "Tell him I may consider accepting his apology. Maybe."

"She says maybe." Ghoulia kept her disbelief to herself; she knew Cleo would sooner set fire to rain than try even something this close to empathy. And yet she had Ghoulia be her in-between than just demand Deuce jump in a crocodile infested river.

Happy to not have an enemy, Deuce was going to say something nice about her commanding voice, but before he spoke two hands covered his glasses.

Tilly was just being silly, she didn't know how touchy Deuce was about people touching his sunglasses. He didn't comment, just gently moved her hands and turned around to face her pretty eye.

Her one violet eye was gleeful as she told him how her Vrolley-ball practice went. Taking Deuce's attention away that day was to be the reason Cleo would put soap in her contact lens. It would be a week later in gym, but the poor ghoul had no clue about the connection that was being made.

What Cleo gathered in that short time was Deuce liked getting ghouls to like him. He was a philandering snake with a checklist and that disgusted her.

"Oh you almost had me going!" Cleo was now facing Deuce and his Cyclops; her face was not happy.

"Say what now?" Deuce asked, a little intrigued the Fearleading Captain wanted his attention.

"Listen to me, bad-dye job! (Her fingers pointed dramatically at Tilly) I don't know by how much, but seriously, you could do better than- (venom in her tone) this!"

Deuce should have been insulted but he was distracted by the dramatic way she moved her hands while she talked. The girl was attempting to humiliate him again, for little reason, and all he did was wonder how many layers of bandage were tied around Cleo.

Mr. Gray, Monster High's haughty art teacher, was lecturing about his glory days in 1980: the happy days of hedonism where what preached about for hours, which didn't bother the students very much. They spent the class time just hanging out, and as long as they drew a single dot on a canvas, it pleased who could 'see inside' the artist's soul and find the deeper meaning behind it all.

One little pink vampire was lightly painting her self-portrait. Since her last portrait, a good thirty years ago, the little darling needed an update on how she looked. Draculuara worked from memory of her old portrait, and added lots of little hearts and new things for fun.

The paint blotching of frills was put on pause for a moment to watch the confrontation across the room from her. Lip-reading Lala wasn't killer at, but the body language was fun to interpret.

"Cleo's fighting vith de gorgeous gorgon again," She happily whispered to her beast-friend, Clawdeen.

The werewolf didn't think very highly of Cleo, but humored her friend.

"That boy should just stone her already," When Clawdeen smiled, her little fangs showed, "We'd get a break from Cleo the Vile."

Being the bigger monster wasn't getting him anywhere with Cleo, so Deuce dropped the indifference a bit. "If you were dude, I'd knock your teeth in."

Hearing this actually lit something in Cleo, she couldn't see past the indifference and that blindness bugged her.

"So prove you're a man." Cleo pushed, she dipped her paintbrush in blue. They kept their eyes on their canvases, but were sitting close enough to whisper.

Deuce made a little fake laugh. "That's a woman's argument. " He had red paint and a limited amount of patience for this Princess's attitude.

"I can smell their tension from here." Clawdeen told her favorite ghoul.

The two ghouls watched Deuce say one more thing from the side of his mouth- then Cleo gasped in disbelief.

"Oh Drama~!" Draculuara had nothing personal against either of them; it was just kind of fun for her to watch.

With her brush dripping with blue, Cleo marked Deuce's painting with wide brush marks. His reaction was a scowl and putting a hand in his red paint. He marked Cleo's painting, to make them even but she wasn't having that.

With everyone but the teacher watching, Cleo and Deuce viciously attacked each other's paintings until they ran out of room on the canvases and went after each other's faces. No one got hurt, they just finger-painted one another with little pushes and passionate mark patterns.

When the bell rang to change classes, a mostly teal-colored Deuce went west to meet his Lamassu date. Cleo stormed the east to wash the red paint from her face and hair- everything else could be replaced by a phone call to one of her many thousands of servants.

The other students went to look at the feuding monsters' paintings. They weren't studied for long; the pictures were mostly angry purple splatters that made no sense to anyone.

Anyone not named Mr. Gray.

"My my my, such passion, such rapture- who ever did this (his porcelain skin gestured to Cleo's canvas), is one hundred different feelings at once however, enamored seems to be the conqueror."

Clawdeen and Draculuara were the last ones left to listen.

As he looked at Deuce's canvas, he grabbed his chest and said, "Oh Muse there you have gone- you've engulfed this random pupil and filled him or her with so much… un cas de force majeure…it's tragic, it's beautiful, it's so Bryonic."

He looked down at the two girls past his high pointing nose. "I'm sorry, you probably don't know who that is."

Only hearing the romantic talk from her teacher, Draculuara cupped her hands and sighed. "Aww, dis is sooo romantic! Do you know vhat dese means?"

"My brother's got some competition for a gaudy trophy?" Clawdeen had her claws on her hip, unimpressed with either person's 'work of art'.

"Oh! Do you dink dey'll run away dogether to avoid his wrath?!" she clapped her little hands in excitement.

"I like the part about Cleo running away so, sure, we'll hope for that."


	2. Charlie's Imps

All these characters belong to Mattel.

In case you're weird and skipped the first chapter, I'll explain what is suppose to be happening. This is a big flashback story told by Drauclaura& Clawdeen to Frankie about a picture in the Fearbook that came out before Frankie arrived. The two are telling her about Cleo's relationship with Clawd and how it fell to pieces after she met Deuce.

...

At the Coffin Bean, two ghouls giggled and planned secretly. Their faces were pretty and sweet while their fangs were sharp and pointy.

"Dink about it, if Cleo and Clawd continue dere may one day be a litter of diny Cleos with folded ears... Vith her deal eyes dhat be pretty adorable!" The little pink vampire was delighted by the image; the idea of Clawd with Cleo forever wasn't in her favor but she liked to stay on the positive side.

Clawdeen was more realistic- she honestly hated the idea from all corners. "I'd rather see him spayed."

Draculuara covered her mouth but monsters twenty feet away could hear her laughing. When she cooled down, Draculuara pretended to bite on a finger as she said, "Aldough, Cleo does look good in sunglasses; having to vear dem all de dime vould look be fangin!"

"Plus with Deuce settled down we'd be giving the guys of Monster High a chance at dating again!" The werewolf could only list positive things about breaking up her brother's relationship.

Draculaura thought of the one negative aspect of a breakup; "Clawd will be humiliated and maybe even heartbroken about losing Cleo."

Two big yellow eyes went deep in empathy for seven seconds. After she snapped out of that, Clawdeen was 100% certain that it was in her brother's best-long-term interest to not date Cleo.

"He's a big boy, he'll find another ghoul soon after. But for our own necks we gotta be Charlie's Imps about this. He cannot know we're helping him." Clawdeen told her best-ghoul-friend, who agreed with her totally.

The little pink vampire clapped her hands together- "Oww! Is dis a good excuse do get spy-appropirate outfits?!"

"As good a reason as any." Clawdeen smiled, as she watched the vampire search for her credit-cards.

...

Bob the blob was a really nice guy; not the brightest firefly in the swamp but fun at parties. Deuce hoped that if Bob noticed him (Deuce) not paying any attention to their conversation, that Bob wouldn't take it personally.

Behind Bob, more accurately through the transparent Bob, was the Mummy's very attractive daughter. It wasn't just her face or body (though both were 15s on a scale of 10-1), it was her attitude. She was feisty, some might call it arrogant but a monster can't show dominance without being a bit unpleasant sometimes.

Deuce dug it; he liked how Cleo did what she wanted even if she wasn't always liked for it. He was very aware of how irritating she could get, but with a cute little nose like that how long could a guy stay mad?

It was easy to get mad when Clawd came in the picture. Literally, the two were posing for their Fearbook spot as 'Cutest Couple'.

Bob stopped talking about his time in prison because Deuce was starting to grimace. "Something wrong Deuce?"

_I have a thing for a ghoul with a boyfriend, who is my pal, and I'm concerned about this even though there are hundreds of lovely ghouls without boyfriends whom would happily date me- yeah, life is not that hard for me so I'm not going to complain about it to Bob_. "No, dude, just thinking about science and all."

Clawd kept his arm around Cleo as they took pictures. He was proud to have a beautiful captain for a ghoul. The werewolf was less proud when she barked orders and wore this weird perfume that hurt his too-senstive nose. But he didn't comment because they weren't together enough for it to be an issue. Cleo was fine with only seeing her boyfriend sometimes(for pictures) because while he was a very decent boy, he bore her.

He looked good on her arm, and that's all that matter. Cleo heard the little hisses from down the hall- she shivered. Cleo loved snakes, they were her favorite animal. It was bittersweet because the snakes were from the heinous gorgon that always seemed to be around these days. She concentrated very hard at not looking in the direction of the hissing sound...the adorable little hisses that were very close to the beautifully sculpted dimpled chin and...AHH!

Cleo's platforms could not left her high enough to grab Clawd's collar so she tugged extra hard on what she could reach. Her kiss had an angry edge to it, but Clawd wasn't going to complain that his girlfriend implusly kept kissing him recently. He didn't notice a pattern of what he was doing to turn Cleo on, but the results weren't bad.

"We're in school, kids, you're distracting the students from learning and stuff." Clawd's sister told them.

Cleo acknowledged Clawdeen by putting an arm around her boyfriend's neck, making the kiss more gross for the she-wolf.

Clawdeen held back vomit as she grabbed the bad-brother whistle. Hearing the horrible squeal, Clawd bit Cleo's lip. The aggravated Mummy pushed him out of their embrace so he could talk to his horrible sister.

"Need something, sis?" Clawd didn't bother getting upset with her.

"Yeah, I need a favor; can you watch the twins for me? Say, this Friday?" Clawdeen made her eyes big and flopped her ears down.

Cleo made a disgusted sound. "Uck, no, we're going to the movies Friday- not like what you'd have planned is all that special anyway."

"Cleo, I don't think-"

"Allow me, Clawd." Clawdeen held a paw to her brother, then a claw to Cleo. "I'm going to tell you something no one else would ever have the decency to say."

With her arms folded, and the confidence that she could have the werewolf expelled if she tried anything, Cleo waited.

Clawdeen pretty purple lips turned into a smile, "I hope you guys have a great time Friday."

The couple cocked their heads in surprise. Clawdeen pushed her fluffy curls back as she said, "I just wanted to ask, but I'm cool with a nigh in."

As she walked away, she her super hearing heard Cleo say, "Oh my Ra, your sister is so weird!"

"Oh my Ra," Clawdeen mimicked when she got to Draculaura, "I have gaudy jewelry and no class. I got a confirmation that they'll be at the movies on Friday."

"Check dhat, now to at a snake in dheir garden." The vampire crossed her index finger with her beasite, then skipped to a blue acquaintance she saw walking down the hall.

"Lagoona!" She called to the Sea-creature.

Lagoona knew Draculaura only a little and thought well of the vampire because she was very sincere. Very silly, but the blonde blue haired ghoul appericated when someone was themself.

"Sup, Luv?" This could be either gossip or a homework favor, they shared a science class. Either way, Lagoona would listen attentively.

"Okay, so someone dold Bridgette, vho dold Angel vho dold Drusilla, vho dold Jix, vho dold heard from Caleb vho dold me dhat Deuce might've dold Willow, dat's Willow Graves not Willow Wheeps mind you, dhat Deuce Gorgon dhink you're pretty!" The little vampire said this all in one breathe, this impressed the ghoul trying out for the swimteam.

Lagoona would ask if she wanted to join, but she heard something about vampires having issues with certain water so she kept it to herself.

"Um. Oh, Deuce? He seems cool. Bit of a moll dude but not a crude moll dude." The Sea-creature heard hissing behind her, she turned around and put a webbed hand to her lips.

"Crikey, I didn't mean-"

"Hey, it's cool. I like a ghoul who's honest." The gorgon said, leaning aginst the locker she was standing in front of.

"I like a bloke who doesn't get crabs in his shorts easily." Lagoona was just grateful she wasn't caught being a chatterbox.

Draculaura lit up at the chemistry she was witnessing. "I'll be going now, smooches."

The two mellow monsters smiled, and were about to speak when they were interrupted with, "Oh, and I hear Friday has a great selection of movies dis veek. Food for dhought."

...

At the movie theatre, Deuce was grilling Lagoona about the waves back home. Deuce liked extreme sports, and Lagoona had a fun history of surfing waves most normies had dreamy nightmares about.

They were having a nice time, then Deuce's snake-hawk's faces all went in one direction; the seat infront of them.

"Clawd, sup dawg." Deuce held out a fist, and Clawd bumped it.

"Hey man, nice to see you out with a respectable lady."

Deuce made a fake mad face, Lagoona found it funny. "So Clawd, where's your gil?"

"Bathroom, something about hair, I dunno, it looked fine to me." The werewolf shrugged, he knew his sisters had trouble with their fur but they had way more than Cleo so it made less sense to him.

Deuce thought about how the gold streaks shined with bronze-colored skin...he then tried concreting on how cool and pretty Lagoona was. Bright-blue was nice, it was everywhere, a common but nice color. Yeah.

"Hey, can you guys watch my spot, I gotta get a snack." In other words, six hotdogs. "Want anything?"

"I'm cool." Deuce said, and then Lagoona countered with, "I could use a drink."

"I'll get it, babe." He was getting up, but she stood up already and pushed him down.

"It's cool, mate, I got it."

Equal rights was something Deuce supported for every monster, normie or ghoul but he liked doing stuff for his dates. He liked doing little stuff to show he liked them. But when they didn't give him the chance, Deuce felt a little weird, like he'd lost the opportunity to build something.

"Why is it you're everywhere now?" A very loud voice articulated angrily.

Cleo returned before her boyfriend and Lagoona had. This probably wasn't a good thing, but Deuce did like seeing her, especially when Clawd wasn't around to judge.

"I dunno. Maybe you're following me." Deuce suggested, he had a beautiful smile.

Usually boys with full lips were a turn off for her, but everything else was fit to size that it made Cleo angry.

"I follow no one." The princess informed him, then sat down in the seat before Deuce.

She pretended not to care when he leaned over to put his arms on the chair next to Cleo. Tattoos in her family were done for spells and symbols of power. In Deuce's case, she thought, it was just a cute sign of rebellion. Cleo also liked how he never wore sleeves.

"I can't believe you didn't drag Clawd to the gooey ghoul flick down the hall." If Cleo turned her head, she'd se the movie screen reflected in his sunglasses.

Cleo huffed in annoyance. "I don't find morons tripping on knock-off heels as humorous as the rest of the world. However, watching normie's interpretation of zombie's lives to be far more hilarious."

"You're not as shallow as you come off as." Deuce stated to the girl that smelled like almonds and irises.

"Well, you're not as cool as everyone thinks you are." Cleo looked at him, to prove that she could.

Deuce didn't look insulted- actually, he looked happy that she was snapping at him. He always looked untroubled which made Cleo originally think he was a moron. However, he was effortlessly cool and great eye-candy so the Mummy considered he had excellent reasons to be happy with his lucky life.

Talking to your friend's girlfriend in the dark, and enjoying it, was not cool and Deuce knew that. But for a minute he didn't classify Cleo as Clawd's girlfriend, he just saw her as Cleo. Cleo De Nile; extreme diva, extremely opinionated and extremely fine from every angle; not caring how long this lasted, Deuce poked at Cleo's hair management. The princess's response was outrage but deep inside she liked it because it gave her a chance to rant about the styling time it took.

Clawd came back with arms full of food. The sweet Sea girl walking beside him had a soda and bought a bag of candy. The movie had started already so she hoped Deuce would tell her what she missed.

She and Clawd walked in on a scene that said Deuce missed the movie's beginning too because he was distracted. Cleo was ranting about something and Lagoona's date was listening attentively. He might not have been listening but Lagoona saw that his focus was all on Cleo.

A little part of her was disappointed with that, but the look on Deuce's face was so cute she couldn't be too mad. Clawd on the other hand was mad. His growl broke the trance that was his girlfriend was in with the dude he went after all ghouls- even his bluddy's ghoul it seemed.

When Cleo noticed she wasn't alone with Deuce anymore, she stood up and said, "I don't want to sit here anymore."

"I'm cool with that." Clawd said, giving Deuce a real mad face.

Deuce didn't say anything as she walked away. His face wasn't ashamed but it wasn't happy as Clawd put an arm around the Mummy. They walked to the back of the theatre; Clawd was too tall to sit in the front. It annoyed Cleo because she saw the middle of the theatre, their former seats, as the perfect spot.


	3. 3 You

Recap; Cleo and Deuce had a moment at the movies. It didn't last because she came with Clawd and he was there with Lagoona.

Oh, it was Draculaura and Clawdeen's idea for both couples to go to movies that Friday night.

...

It annoyed Deuce that he knew a complex,beautiful ghoul who already had a boyfriend. It annoyed him more that the boyfriend was his friend and thought he acting like a jerk. It was the most annoying thing in the world that he cared about this trivial stuff at all when he could get with any other ghoul on the planet.

Like the very gentle, radical Lagoona who liked surfing. She was sporty and still wore hot fishnets so Deuce could learn to crush on her, right? He could've if he hadn't ruined his date with her by making goo-goo eyes at another ghoul.

_What is wrong with me?_, Deuce thought as he and Lagoona walked down the street, away from the Maul and movies.

She probably thought he was a jerk too but Lagoona was still there to listen, so Deuce said, "I'm sorry about earlier, I just-"

"It's cool, mate. I'm not heartbroken or anything. And the movie was pretty good. The parts I saw, anyway." Lagoona was telling the truth- she felt fine about not being the object of his affection because one afternoon of easy conversation wasn't worth drowning over.

"Either you're the coolest ghoul ever or I'm doing something very wrong." Deuce tried to keep it light as she was.

"Maybe it's both." She offered- her webbed hands were linked behind her and Deuce's were in his pockets.

"Yeah, maybe." He knew it was a strong yes.

Biting her pink lips, Lagoona decided to ask, "Can I ask something touchy?"

Deuce knew where she was going and wanted to talk about it. "Shoot."

"How much do you like Cleo?"

The gorgon kept it cool. "She's my bro's ghoul. She's melodramatic, selfish, wears way too much face paint..."

"A lot I take it." The amphibian stated, she heard Deuce sigh and felt sorry for him. "I think she likes you too."

"She has a dude already. I should be able to find a ghoul who's single." Deuce said out loud, he found it amazing that he could tell this to Lagoona when he barely knew her.

"I'm sure you can. But your heart's not in it." Lagoona noticed he flenched at the word 'heart'. She considered maybe that wasn't a manly word to use- boys were so fragile.

"No, I'm gonna put in perspective that there are plenty of fish in the sea.( Lagoona smirked at that) Plenty of beautiful, empathetic fish with hot accents." Deuce hoped the night wouldn't be a total let down.

"Sorry luv, I got this headache." Lagoona put a rubbery land to her forehead. Deuce accepted defeat with an understanding nod.

Before she left him to go into her dorm at Monster High, Deuce told her, "I hope you find a guy as cool as you are."

"From your lips to Cupid's ears." Lagoona said, though she knew if she didn't wish for a boy one would come to her. That's how those things worked.

She knew it was true because Lagoona was sure Deuce didn't wish for Cleo.

* * *

"Where does Lagoona get her jewelry? The bottom of fountain?" Cleo rhetorically asked as her pet snake, Hissete, slithered up and down against her. Cleo was laying on a couch at her home. Ghoulia was on her laptop.

Ghoulia didn't know where this antagonism for the sweet blonde came from. Just yesterday Cleo was admiring how well Lagoona stayed fit, but the bespectacled ghoul didn't bother to ask about the change of mind. Cleo liked to talk, not listen, and Ghoulia was okay with that because the more Cleo complained the less she ordered around.

The cute zombie was checking the Monster High Fearbook stats online. Ghoulia was Cleo's bestfriend and unpaid employee; it was her job to keep the Princess on track of all her happenings. It was Cleo's idea that the Most Popular category should have a singular spot- on top of a pyramid of the other categories.

Ghoulia gasped and shut her laptop quickly. The she realized the snapping sound was loud.

"Ghoulia?" Cleo asked curiously. The Mummy worried for her friend's sanity, it didn't help when Ghoulia smiled. Ghoulia never smiled- something bad had happened.

"Is there something wrong?" Her voice was starting to slow down- interrogation mode.

Trying to change the subject, Ghoulia grabbed a cat statue from Cleo's shelf and asked what kind of curse it came with. That's when Cleo knew what something was wrong.

Pushing the cobra off her leg, Cleo stood up, pushed the zombie on the wheely chair out the way. Despite the pleading, Cleo opened Ghoulia's laptop.

There were three monsters in the contest- and the one with the leading number was not Cleo.

Though it wouldn't be much protection, Ghoulia covered her ears. Buying extra pairs of glasses was a smart idea since becoming friends with the ghoul who could hit over 100 decibels.

* * *

Every other Saturday night Jerome "The Fly"Croneberg held a poker game in his parents' basement. He invited the guys from his Casketball team, and was a bit wary of this decision. Though Jerry had made these plans a week ago, he heard that Clawd and Deuce were having ghoul issues. This made the Fly very anxious; and when he was anxious, he said stupid things.

"How bout those dolphins, huh?" Jerry asked the two-armed guy who played defense.

Seth waited for him to finish the joke. He stared at the fifty reflections of purple himself in Jerry's large eyes but saw nothing.

Clawd was eating the pizza on the table. The whole thing was finished in thirteen seconds, but the wolfman figured Jerry would've ordered more than five pizzas knowing he was coming. With his super nose, Clawd smelled a well-cooked steak. Going off his sense, he followed the delicious sent to the hand that was hold the plate. The hand belonged to Deuce, Clawd straightened up.

"Sup, dawg." Deuce said, still holding the very well seasoned steak in his hand.

"Bro." Clawd couldn't see the windows into Deuce's soul, but the rest of his face had sincerity on it.

"Look, I-"

"Yeah."

"Ya know?"

"Don't get mushy on me." Clawd smirked and took the steak with his teeth. He swallowed it whole, Deuce was amazed with the throat strength.

With their issues talked out, Deuce had pal back and now he wouldn't feel guilty about taking his money in poker.

The boys took their seats while Jerry shuffled the deck. He was trying to talk himself into cooling down. His judgement was so clouded, Jerry allowed Heath Burns to take out one of his dad's cigars.

The flame element felt so suave as his index finger let the end of the cigar. His choking would've gained his friends' attention if the clicking of one furious ghoul's golden platforms weren't coming down the stairs to the basement.

Cleo's narrowed eyes screamed for murder or at least a slow torture. Deuce couldn't deny her pretty eyes were on him. Even as she walked over to kiss Clawd's check, the angry Mummy's glare stayed on him.

"Hi Cleo, wanna pull up a seat?" The Fly asked from the ceiling. He flew up when Cleo got closer to their table.

"No, Terry. I am here only to warn (her voice became gravely) you!" She pointed at Deuce. Under his shades he watched her wraps sway.

"About?" Deuce listed in his head fattening foods, cigar smoke, Heath...

" Ms. Nice Queen has left the building. I will bury you and it will take centuries before you are found again." Cleo had her hands on her hips.

Though curves of her hips were very nice, Deuce wasn't too keen on being threatened. "You don't scare me, Cleo."

She hated everything about him from the way he dressed to the way he said her name. The mummy grabbed the cigar out of Heath's hand. Cleo inhaled, soaked up the rich flavor a natural flame keeps in, and exhaled smoothly making elegant swirls of smoke.

"You don't know me very well." The ghoul informed him.

_Not bad_, Deuce thought. He also thought he had a good poker face, but Clawd could see it. 'It' meaning the way Deuce looked at Cleo.

Wanting to remind them he was still there, Clawd began with, "Cleo, what is-"

"I wuv you too, pookie, but I can't stay." She rubbed the cigar in Deuce's cards, got in his face to say. "I have an axe to grind."

"Bring it." The gorgon said in the most carefree way. Cleo grimaced and left up the stairs, wishing Deuce awful pain.

Clawd felt safe to ask with her gone, "What was that about?"

"No idea, dude." Deuce felt a strange exhilaration from being threatened by her; it was touching she had that much feeling for him.

"Cleo's mad at you for beating her in the polls for being Voted Most Popular Monster at School." The pooka everyone nearly forgotten was there.

"Why do you know that, McKillop?" Jerry asked from above (he was listening for Cleo's complete departure of his house).

McKillop held up his iCoffin to his five friends. "I follow the Ghostly Gossip. What? I need some mind-numbing jibber-jabber to feed my inner demons."

"I take yoga for the same reason." Seth admitted, he felt he was in a safe place to share.

"Uuh, can't I win Most Popular Dude while she's Most Popular Babe?" Deuce asked unhappily; he detested high school drama.

"No, Cleo made it a singular spot on top a triangle of other categories." McKillop explained, he was eating up the tension Cleo built for herself.

Clawd put a big hand on Deuce's shoulder. "It was nice knowing you, dude."

* * *

True to her word, Cleo looked through every potion and cursed idol in her family's possession that Sunday night. Cleo took what she knew about Deuce and thought of his weaknesses and flaws. His biggest were his pride and confidence; seeing as he was incredibly handsome, didn't care about anything and good at talking without even trying Cleo could understand why he had so popularity.

As Ra as her witness, that would end very soon.

On Monday a nasty little rumor started that Deuce had gotten a ghoul in trouble. Expecting him to leave town, Cleo smiled and bought herself a salad.

In the cafeteria she watched Deuce go to his old Nix girlfriend. He gently took her by the hand and they walked out of public sight. After two seconds it was on the Ghostly Gossip that Deuce had promised to support Jasmine in whatever decision she made.

Cleo finished half a pizza without even noticing she had it on her plate. Later she'd learn that Jasmine's baby-daddy was a dwarf named Zachary and Deuce sent the kid comic books on his birthday.

On Tuesday, using a sparkling blue potion Cleo planned to hurt Deuce directly. Using one of his admirers as a tool, Deuce received a chocolate-dragon in his locker. He ate its head and then turned to speak to Heath.

By opening his mouth, a toxic stench came out causing Heath to gag. Deuce was about to skip his next period to wash his mouth out, but found him. The grumpy old man demanded to know where Deuce was going. Deuce wrote down his issue on a pad of paper a passing ghoul gave him. Mr. Rotter read it and didn't believe him.

As Deuce said, "It's the truth, dude-sir." Mr. Rotter's eyes rolled back and fell unconscious.

This was in front of his classroom's open door. One of his students saw this and yelled, "Free period!"

As the rest of the class cheered Deuce on, Cleo sat back and chewed on a bag of cheesy chips.

On Wednesday she put a spell on his water-bottle to screw with his emotions. Deuce became weepy and depressing- it landed him a date with the Poetry Club's beautiful Jorougumo president. Also it made him more popular with the students that disliked Cleo, who decided her favorite ice-cream flavor was butterscotch.

On Thursday Cleo placed a small idol in his pocket that promised to weaken his joints and cause him to trip all day. This actually sky-rocketed his reputation because of the flood of rumors after he spent an afternoon in the nurse's office. The Monster High Nurse was a busty monster with a long light blue tail and three horns coming from her forehead.

Looking seeing Deuce happier after he left the office, Cleo threw away her box of donuts to scream in the auditorium.

Her Fearleading team feared their captain was going insane. It didn't help when Nefra called to check in on everything. Cleo regretfully told her sister she'd been behind on the extra practice hours. Nefra condescendingly explained that to achieve anything Cleo had to stop playing around and gather what little resources she had.

Using her sister's advice, Cleo spent the afternoon organizing a team that could truly fulfill all her goals.

Friday morning during Study Hall Cleo entered the ghoul-filled room. She raised a gavel at the podium and said, "Attention; The Deuce Gorgon Recovery Union is in action. Let us begin first with how we know this horrible boy. I'll go first; he's berated me in every way imaginable and has a life-mission to ruin me."

Cleo was taking a lot of pity on herself. The other ghouls looked at one another in confusion; that wasn't the Deuce they knew.

The princess perked up from her glum state and then said, "Well, who wants to share the scars they received from that badly dressed snake?"

From to ghoul to ghoul, Cleo never heard an unkind thing about Deuce. He treated each of his dates very well, stayed friends with them all and even hooked some of them up with new monsters. He never did the same thing twice, loved new things and was so chill he'd making sitting around the most fun to be had.

"I've been counting and Cleo's eaten more carbs dhis veek than I vould in a year." Draculaura whisper to Clawdeen. They were in the DGRU too, keeping tabs on Cleo's attacks on Deuce. They noted Cleo spent more time torturing Deuce than she did talking to Clawd.

"Clawd been hanging at home a lot more this week than usual. It's only a matter of time now." The werewolf whispered as she watched Cleo chew on a candy pencil.

"Dhey need another push before Cleo eats the Fearleading squad." Draculaura was watching Cleo's waistline- the wrappings looked a little tighter than usual.


	4. 4Love me Cancerously

I actually had to retype this because I started it on Fanfic's copy&paste feature and when I went to press 'submit document' it said I had logged out. It was very disturbing. But I want to finish this before the flow is officially dead (sort of like my poor Brave/Httyd piece feels like).

* * *

"There has got to be some way to destroy him!" Cleo said as she stared at the gorgon's picture.

Deuce was in the lead of "Most Popular Monster of Monster High" for the Fearbook. There was only one spot; Cleo had it arranged it that way so she could be at the top of the pyramid of the other categories. Why? Like hell she'd share it with anyone else.

It hadn't occurred to Cleo that another, a boy, would win over more friends than her.

"Think Ghoulia! It's the thing you're best at, remember?!" The mummy demanded of her favorite friend.

The little zombie flinched at Cleo's shrieking. She cautiously watched Cleo stare at Deuce's picture. It was riddled with holes and knives, darts and ninja stars.

Cleo racked her brain; usually she was good at finding what was wrong with people and mocking them horribly for it. It was a family game she learned from her sister.  
But for the life of her, she could not find a flaw with Deuce.

Ghoulia had researched about him but the school records provided nothing interesting. The only thing Deuce has ever gotten in trouble for was stoning a Roach-man at a concert. He was arrested but then given a pardon because the Roach-man he stoned had plutonium in large, unsafe quantities.

He had snakes for hair, which should be creepy, but they were snakes! The most darling sort of creature an Egyptian princess could imagine. Deuce said 'dude' a lot; it was charming in an idiotic way. He was also ridiculously easy going, good-natured and actually made sunglasses look cool again.

"I hate him so much." Cleo whispered as she drew ugly things on his picture.

As she was blacking out the teeth in his dazzling smile, Cleo's iCoffin rung.

Ghoulia answered it as kindly as she could. The voice on the other end did not sound promising but before Ghoulia could hang up Cleo took the phone out of her hand.

"You're on with Cleo, make it quick and satisfying." She warned, ignoring Ghoulia's worried face.

In a gravely, deep, unrecognizable voice the caller said. "Would you like information on how to tear Deuce a new one?"

Cleo smiled. "Keep talking."

After the caller explained where to go to get a very juice scope on Cleo's horrid enemy, the Princess asked,  
"How can I trust this call to be legit?"

"You can't until you see for yourself. Really want to pass up the chance to get something juicy on Deuce." The werewolf on the other end of the 'borrowed' iCoffin, with the interesting voice-changing app, told her.

"I'd hit him with a car if Deuce didn't have the uncanny ability to make casts look, well…" she didn't want to use the word she was thinking but Ra forbid someone would hear her say something nice about Deuce.

"Go where I suggest, and you'll never have this problem with him again." The voice told Cleo.

Clawdeen held a thumbs-up to her best-ghoul-friend as Cleo agreed on the phone. Draculuara motioned to clap her hands; the palms didn't touch because she couldn't make a sound.  
The plan was to get Cleo a new boyfriend so she'd leave Clawd in peace. It was their business because they loved Clawd, unlike he to Cleo or Cleo to him.

It was about ten o'clock at Monster High; the school was empty except for the gargoyles and the few ghosts whom had nowhere else to go.

According to the secret voice, Deuce had traded a favor with to use the school after hours.

For what, the mummy wondered, what in this dark world could he be doing?

This was an excellent excuse to wear her black jumpsuit. Even though she had a comfort zone with death and wearing black any time of the year, Cleo followed the fashion rules of saving black for super special occasions.

She knew Deuce was in the kitchen. Her first guess was maybe he was making drugs. Doing so in a school was stupid but Cleo was hopeful she's catch him doing something either dastardly or expulsion worthy.

Deuce stopped what he was doing to answer the knock on the door. No one was there; he shrugged it off, thinking one of the ghosts' attempts to prank him.

The kitchen was dark except for a few candle-lights and the preheated oven being on.

Knife in his hand, he went to finish the thing that gave him the most fun in the world. The blood dripped to the side, he wiped it but jumped at the outraged gasp.

"THAT'S YOUR BIG SECRET!"

Deuce jumped, he'd had no idea he'd been watched for the last seven minutes as he cut beef and onions.

"Why are you trailing me in the dark?" He was more shocked she'd do it herself.

"Why are you cooking in school kitchen late at night?!" Cleo countered as she walked out of the shadows.

No great excuse came to him as he was surrounded by ingredients and wore an aproun. So he swallowed his pride and told her the truth.  
"I needed a really powerful oven to try this Beef Bogugion Recipe, the school caf has a great oven and owed me a favor. You're gonna tell everyone my feminine secret now aren't you?"

"Not on my afterlife! The last thing everyone needs to know is this!" Cleo angrily said as she deleted the video on her iCoffin.

"Uh, what?" Deuce was aware of the vendetta on him. He thought she lacked reason for it, but admired her conviction.

"I'm not giving you more power!" The mummy screamed at him. "The ghouls of this school drool over your sad carcass enough as it is; once they hear you're a gay who can cook your fanclub will just double! Maybe quadruple! They've got fans in so. Many. Schools!"

The Deuce Fanclub was at first a support group Cleo invented for Deuce's many ex-girlfriends. When it turned out none of them held ill feelings towards him, Cleo found the initial plan a disappointing failure. She confessed to no one how interesting it was to listen to Deuce's dating history.

Deuce put down the knife and held his hands in calm defense. "Whoa, I'm not gay."  
Though because he knew everyone would make such a guess, he kept his love for cooking to himself.

"Oh get your skeleton out of it's closest! Everyone loves a handsome gay with commitment issues." She was on the verge of tears but yelling kept them back. "Everyone at this school already adores you more, and…and…I'm GOING TO LOSE!"

Before the water-works went on, and ruined her makeup, Cleo turned to leave. Not comfortable with crying girls Deuce walked quicker around her and blocked the door.

"Wait a minute. You got a big secret out of me, isn't it fair I get something out of you." He was trying to be kind to the girl who'd spent weeks trying to humiliate him.

"I don't owe you a thing!" Taking his kindness would be weak on her part, in Cleo's mind.

"Please. I really wanna know!"

"Know what?!"

"I wanna know why a smart, beautiful, sophisticated girl cares so much about winning a stupid high school popularity contest! " Deuce exasperatedly told her.

Since he wouldn't try anything on her this late in the game, Cleo allowed her tears to streak.  
"It's a long story."

She sounded so tender and tired, Deuce gently smiled at her soft surrender. "I've got a roast in the oven, there's time to kill."

About two hours later, Cleo was dipping her spoon in a crème Boolee.

"And then, after I won the Spelling Killer-bee, Nefra has the nerve to tell me 'Real impressive, until everyone has spellcheck and your one little talent becomes irreverent as your outfit.'" She took the bite, and it was wonderful but she still could taste the bitterness of her sister's cruel words.

What Deuce had learned in two hours of rants was Cleo was very damaged underneath all her grace and beauty. Seeing this haughty, stunning ghoul so fragile did not dent his respect for her at all. Actually, Deuce found all the stuff wrong with her to be endearing.

His face rested in his hand as he listened to her sad stories. Deuce leaned on one side of a cooking table, as Cleo sat on a stool on the other.

When the timer rang, Cleo held up one perfectly manicured black nail.  
"Wait, I should have an hour left!"

"That's just the timer for the muffins. They're cool where they are. But can I use this opportunity to say something?"

Honestly Cleo enjoyed talking about her more than other topics, but stopped to let him go for a minute. She could wait until it was her turn again.

"I think you're a really awesome ghoul who shouldn't let her mean, twisted sister get her down. I know, easier said than done but you gotta know you're doing stuff…right. Like, really right."

Cleo liked what he was saying. When she tried to talk to Clawd about her issues, he didn't understand that sibling couldn't get along. He had a crowded amount of siblings so there were more distractions than the one-on-one relationship she shared with Nefra.

"My sister is evil." Cleo reminded him.

"True, but ignoring her doesn't work. Biting back, well, it's a better strategy and keeps you both on your heels." Deuce told the girl with the pretty teal eyes.

Cleo liked his thinking. "What makes you an expert on sister issues?"

The gorgon smirked. "My mom's close in age with her two sisters. Reunions are fun to make bets on."

Only knowing rumors of the iron-fisted monster that was Medusa, Cleo smirked at the vision of three of them going at it.  
In train of thought going in another direction, Cleo's full spoon fell on her chest.  
Deuce noticed and motioned to grab her a napkin but became distracted with her unzipping the half-coat-thing that he thought was part of the whole jumpsuit. Turns out it wasn't and her low-cut undershirt that was with the torso and pants parts was one piece of clothing.

Unconcerned with his attention, she said, "It's already ruined, I'll get a better one later."

He saw her lips move but didn't hear her, not really. "Uhh…cool coat-thing."

Cleo narrowed her eyes. "Coat-thing? Oh my Ra! You're not a gay!"

Now that he heard, "I already told you I wasn't!"

Furious with his 'deception' Cleo growled and stood up. "And after all I told you! AHHH!"

"Wait! Why are you mad at me now?" Deuce stood up, not equal in height but in seriousness.

"You get me all soft with pastries and an air of being an impossible candidate for a hungry straight-man and I- AHHHH!" Disgusted with him and herself for opening up and ending like this, Cleo grabbed the bowl the crème broolee was in and threw it at him.  
It missed and broke against a wall.

"Hey, I listened cause I wanted to know more- like I had planned for you spy on me and then take your shirt off!" Deuce explained to her, though not as calm as before.

Not wanting her to storm out and leave Deuce grabbed her wrist. The glare at him was border lining scary but she needed to hear him.  
"Cleo, believe me; I don't have any tricks against you!"

"You have five seconds to remove your hand before I take it with me." She threatened him.

"You can trust me!"

"Yeah, why!?"

Gods she was insufferable, paranoid and hard as steel to get through to.  
"Because I actually like you, ya know, for you!"

She looked less mad; still cold and unhappy, waiting to hear more.

"You've got more nerve than anyone I've ever met and it's hot."  
This was also kept to himself because telling these things to his friend's girlfriend was way past inappropriate. Deuce knew Clawd didn't love her, but he still tried to respect what was his friends and off limits.

Cleo's expression of coldness didn't change. "Is that the truth?"

What was he speaking French? Deuce was getting annoyed and it occurred to him to remind her she was not her boyfriend and he didn't need to do all this. This was a bad situation and the more they talked the worst it was going to get for Clawd.  
"Yeah, it's the truth. Happy now?"

Taking her wrist away from him, the Mummy Princess kept her eyes on him. She walked around the table; Deuce noticed she had one finger scratching the table.

"Almost." She said before grabbing his stupid chain necklace down, pulling him into a very enjoyable kiss.

Deuce pulled her closer, and off her feet for a minute. The coils of his living hair were wonderful in her fingers. Their tiny teeth nibbled Cleo and she couldn't compare how much she liked it to anything else.

The kiss felt awesome but there was a little howl in the back of Deuce's head.

They broke so they could catch a breath, and for Deuce to say, "We can't do this."

"I have protection in my back pocket and a father who thinks I'm at a slumber-party with Ghoulia." The princess told him. Cleo loved how she could see herself in his sunglasses. Not that he wasn't pretty to look at, too.

"That is so awesome, but are seriously forgetting something?" Deuce waited for her to admit feeling guilty too. "Or someone?"

Cleo pursed her lips and waited for another hint. She was getting annoyed, so she gestured with her eyes to just say it.

"Someone named Clawd?" He remembered her boyfriend existed when she didn't care. Deuce felt good for himself and worse for his friend.

"Oh." Cleo looked bored with this information. "What he doesn't know won't kill him."

"That's messed up."

"Oh, so now I'm the bad guy?"

"We're both the bad guys."

"I strongly disagree on that. You adore me, I like you (she felt weird to admit such a thing so she added) sort of. We've tried pretending like we don't for so long. That's not fair to either of us." The mummy felt because her needs were finally being met that she was in the right.

"You're right, this was invertible. But there is a way to fix this." Deuce had both hands on Cleo's back, he tried not thinking about how long unwrapping her would take.

"Which is what, may I ask?" Cleo wasn't use to being told what to do. But by such an attractive man she almost liked it.

"Break up with Clawd." Deuce accepted that he was _that jerk_, but he wasn't alone so and that was comforting.

Cleo pouted at his request. "And crush his wittle heart?"

"Everyone's allowed to love you, Cleo. I just want to be the one dude you love."

Ten years ago Cleo awoke from a sarcophagus and breathed in fresh air for the first time in over 5 thousand years. She walked around the museum her family was placed in and found pretty shoes from a wax figure of Marie Antoinette. They were too big for her but they made Cleo feel pretty and new and better than before.

Not letting him see how touched his sentence made her, Cleo put on the air of royalty as she said, "Very well. (she smirked) It's so cute that you have principals."

"It's so cute to watch you pig out on pastries." Deuce like to push limits.

Cleo goes 'UCK!', hits his shoulder and tries to push him away. She's happier when he doesn't let her. The mummy has one hand on his chest and the other reaching for the back of his neck. Deuce still has his hands on the middle of her back. _Damned if I do, bored if I don't, _he thinks before kissing her forehead.

"Hold the phone." Abbey interrupts, bringing the ghouls back to the present. In the present, she and Frankie are in the Wolfe house listening to Draculaura and Clawdeen tell a story. A story concerning photos in an old Fearbook Frankie found.

"I do not understand how you two know what go on even when not there." The Yeti stated, waiting for them to answer her question.

Frankie was engulfed in the cuteness of the story to consider that. Now she thought it was a good question.

"Ve were dhere, in she cupboards." Draculaura unashamedly informed them.

"Everything else we learned from Ghoulia." Clawdeen said as she let her newly steamed hair fall.

Accepting all this, Frankie was still in a mental pickle-jar, "Okay, but that still doesn't explain-"

Holding up a claw, the werewolf said, "We're getting to that, Frankie."


	5. Her body is My coffin

It was a good day to break a heart. Cleo assumed that she broke hearts by just walking by. _Poor boys, I have your hearts and you have my pity_. Cleo was extra snooty that day.

Her phone buzzed and the text she read fattened her ego. The princess was alone with her face in her locker; people could assume she was checking her mirror.

They wouldn't be wrong; when she done reading the text, Cleo viewed into the mirror with the smuggest look.

She nabbed the most desired boy at Monster High- maybe of the country! A boy who was as gorgeous as he was popular, talented and smart as her.

Also, and something Cleo would never admit to anyone- he treated her like a person- not just a princess. Sure, Ghoulia did that too- sometimes- but Ghoulia wasn't a tall rebel with broad shoulders and grand amount of empathy.

Cleo was in love, and the first person she had to tell was her boyfriend. Maybe Clawd would get furiously jealous and fight Deuce for her hand. Deuce seemed like he could handle a fight, so she wasn't worried for his well-being.

The Mummy chewed on her pinky and she imagined wrapping the gorgon's wounds.

"Hey Cleo, how's the daydream?" the BMOC–Big Monster on Campus asked his girlfriend.

He was a nice monster, so Cleo decided to tone down her secret joy a tad for the poor pup's feelings. Cleo gave Clawd a condescending look with just a hint of regret on the side.

"Clawd, there is something I must discuss with you." The princess told him; _keep this professional and skip any pet names._

"Okay, what?" Clawd asked, he wasn't worried because before Cleo said anything more, a little were-pup pulled on her bandages.

The gold-laced ghoul looked down at the most adorable chibi-Clawd Wolf. It was a real creature- it was very unbelievable.

"Oh my Ra! What is this little mess of cutness?"

"That's my baby brother, Boxer." Clawd put a big paw on Cleo's back and turned her to the rest of the hallway.

There were about five other equally adorable werepups trotting around the halls of Monster High. Each with bows around their necks, eyes big and wet, handing out flyers that said 'Vote for Cleo'.

The mummy put her shimmering-braclet hand to her jewel-encrusted chest. "You're using your brothers to manipulate favors from the student body? That is so…unlike you."

Clawd was honest to a fault and never really struck Cleo as brilliant.

"You're my ghoul and I thought this would make you happy."

"Oh, honeywumpuss, you found the secret passage to making me very happy." The mummy put her iCoffin in her backpocket and reached up to kiss Clawd.

Draculaura and Clawdeen were in full view of this- both had their arms crossed and their panties in a twist.

"Vote for Cleo!" a werepup with honey-red fur told his older sister.

"Clawly, how much is Clawd paying you?" the cynical werewolf asked.

The Wolfe dropped the cute act; it was just his sister, "A signed Mikill Jughead jersey and 20% of his Casketball cards."

"And what can I give you to drop this little Dog and Pegasus show?" Clawdeen asked, expecting the worst and hoping for the best.

"I want all of your old magazines; and I want you to never as why." Clawly told her, he had his sister's accent when he bargained.

With only one hundred guesses of what Clawly would do, Clawdeen agreed and they shook on it.

"I can't believe her! Dragging along dwo boys, a good one, a bad one- a kind prince and a droubled hoodlum…. it's so romantic!" The vampire ate up this kind fluffy junk. She started hopping in place at the drama.

"Not when it's my brother." Even with feral eyes like a scary animal, Draculaura thought Clawdeen was the most beautiful ghoul she knew.

"If we dell Clawd vhat ve know, ve'd had do explain dhe dhings I don't vant do." She had fun playing as a Charlie's Imp but in the real world D-Ula knew they'd crossed a few lines.

Clawdeen thought she could take her brother if he lost his temper with them. Clawd have never harmed any of his siblings- he kept them controlled with threats of sitting on them- but he was still capable of annoying Clawdeen until she ripped her fur out. The ghoul growled in annoyance; her beastie patted her shoulder and said,

"Lets just vait for Deuce to notice."

Kato Wolfe gave the gorgon a flyer that said 'Vote for Cleo'. Deuce smirked a thank you to the little pup.

After the werepup left, Deuce gently lifted his sunglasses to stare at the pretty face on the flyer. He'd never see the bright teal of Cleo's eyes; he'd see a dark teal under his sunglasses or he'd see her flyer image as stone.

With the square rock in his hands, Deuce went out the front doors to throw it against a tree.

…..

In Mad Science class, Mr. Hack had the kids working with potions.

Ghoulia could do this experiment with her eyes closed. With the extra help Cleo gave her, the zombie could also tie her hands behind her back and be done within minutes.

Strangely Cleo seemed invested in doing the experiment that day. Ghoulia guessed it had something to do with her archenemy and Heath Burns sitting next to them.

If Ghoulia knew better, she'd figure out Cleo was trying to ignore the gorgon who was in a very testy mood. This was odd because Deuce was usually content with anything and Cleo hadn't declared her war on Deuce over yet. Well, she hadn't declared it to her best friend whom was in charge of updating her SkullBook page.

"Jerry is leaving Casketball to play on the Football team. Can you believe that tool?" Heath asked, not caring that he was pouring the wrong ingredients.

"What's so bad about that? He says he likes Football, Football can make him happy and if Jerry isn't getting his fill with Casketball, then he should just tell Clawd the truth!" Deuce turned pages in his textbook just to give his hands something to do.

"Ghoulia did you hear about Jerry? He's trying to decide between two sports, both which make him look good, and some monsters can't understand how difficult trading teams are!" Cleo's diamonded studded nails beat against their lab table.

"I can't believe Jerry is so conceited he doesn't care that he's hurting the Football team." Heath could only see Deuce's eyebrows arch in anger.

"Why should the Football team get it's snakes in a twist when it has so many more students to brainwash into giving up their weekends!" Cleo's voice rose- she hoped the rest of the students could see how horrible Deuce was then.

"The Football team saw something in Jerry that they hadn't seen before in any other monster! They want it- hell, they even used the 'L' word at one point!" The snakes hissed in spite.

"Lesbians?" Heath asked, trying to keep up with the conversation that obtained Cleo without him noticing. The fire boy also didn't notice his beaker starting to smoke.

"Clawd has brought the Casketball team to a grand domination by being a noble, strong, sweet Captain- Jerry doesn't see how he'd deserves to be left in the cold after doing everything right!"

"I agree, Clawd's a great guy but he's also a very big boy and I know Jerry knows Clawd can see the way Jerry looks at Football! He's not a idiot!"

"Jerry was an idiot for even trying out Football!" Ghoulia still wasn't sure why Cleo got in this, but the zombie could see her friend clenching and becoming upset. "Football can suck it because Jerry does not owe that sport anything!"

The monsters eavesdropping waited for Deuce's retaliation in Jerry's honor.

Deuce was cool and hard as stone when he said, "If Jerry is half the monster I know he is, he won't expect anyone to wait too long for him to make up his mind."

The gorgon hadn't looked at Cleo during their whole argument. He didn't turn his head after he said what he said but hearing a teeny, tiny whimper snapped Deuce out of his anger.

"Jerry is twice the monster you will ever be." The proud ghoul told him before stomping out of the room.

noticed and was about to call her to detention. Ghoulia stood up and explained to him that Cleo was 'cruising the crimson tide' and couldn't wait to ask permission.

Hack nodded and bought the fib, although every other monster in the room but Heath got the real reason.

"Jeez, Cleo's putting on some pounds." Heath pointed out. It wasn't the first time Deuce turned him to stone and it wouldn't be the last.

Draculuara and Clawdeen were sitting behind the boys. The little vampire saw that the punk-rock boy regretted saying that last bit to Cleo. Draculuara saw his fist on the table, his shoulders hunching and this snakes droop sadly.

Lala wrote on the corner of her notebook, this is our fault L.

Clawdeen was far from heartless but still she wrote, no it's Cleo's :|.

The big grey eyes above the trembling pink lips dug inside of Clawdeen. Cleo was always so mean that admitting she wasn't in the wrong even once seemed unfair. The werewolf stubbornly mixed glowing vials together. She thanked the gods for once for her constantly regrowing hair because the explosion singed her bald.

…

So he'd kissed his very good friend's girlfriend, demanded she dump his friend and when she didn't he made her cry; Deuce accepted his title as biggest jerk in the world.

Deuce had never been as good a Casketball player as Clawd. It was not a goal of his to become Clawd in anyway. As Deuce missed another throw, Clawd walked in and grabbed the ball.

"Bro, it hurts to see you do this to the ball." The much taller, but not necessarily handsomer werewolf told his friend.

_I'll play in a back alley and save you from the torture_, Deuce would've said if he were that kind of loser. "Right. Okay."

"I heard about Cleo being…Cleo, to you. Man, I'm sorry, I thought she was over her, whatever it is." Clawd had pushed aside the idea of Deuce trying to hook up with his ghoul when his ghoul started torturing him. Even if Deuce were a man-whore, he wouldn't still chase something that nasty.

He did not know Deuce very well, and hearing such an apology got under his scales. "Dude, you shouldn't be apologizing, I pushed her buttons, I…I should apologize."

"Deuce, you're a cool guy to say that but I'm not proud that Cleo's acting like such a-"

The werewolf sense caught the ball before Clawd saw it coming.

Deuce was not happy with his friend. "Dude, she's your ghoul, defend her even when she's acting like a psycho."

"That's not right."

"It's not right that you're more concerned with my court skills than Cleo. Dude, she left the room with a bruised ego, that's like you leaving the court with your foot hanging at the tendons."

Clawd's yellow eyes didn't appreciate the lecture from Deuce. The big wolf was starting to feel what he felt what he felt at the movies and during the poker-game interruption. The feeling that Deuce cared about Cleo more than a friend of a friend should.

"If Cleo was your ghoul would you let her do whatever she wanted?" Clawd challenged his oh-so nobel friend.

"As long as it wasn't toxic, yeah, I would. She's not two, just sensitive under all the spikes and emerald daggers and-"

"Why are you telling me about my girlfriend?"

_Maybe you need to hear it if she's gonna stay your girlfriend_, Deuce didn't say that either. He knew he was stepping over something, so he shrugged and said, "Forget I said anything."

Deuce walked out of the gym. Clawd stayed and scored what Deuce didn't.

Yeah, Clawd was the winner and it felt great. So great…

…

Ignoring the fifteenth message from Nerfra, Cleo threw her iCoffin in her bag and planned to forget it there for the rest of Fearleading practice.

Before Cleo stuffed the bag in, she noticed a diamonded shaped rock in her locker. It wasn't a flat diamond; it was a palm-size, smoothly carved stone in a 6-faced diamond shape.

The words on it weren't written in frou-frou script nor were they sloppy. They were carved in stone, so they were meant to be permanent.

_I promise not to make you cry again. D.G._

Cleo chewed on her lips before digging for her iCoffin. _I really hate this boy._

She found his number in her trash box and texted the boy with the awesome powers:

C_: I promise to make it soon._

D_: What's 'it' ?_

C:_ The end of Clawd and I, the start of the best years of your life- in simple language= us. 3_

D_: It's worth the wait. '_^_

C_: You know it._


	6. Drain me Slowly

Winning the first game of the season officially made Clawd the BMOC. The team had won with a score that set records and screams that scared eardrums.

The celebration party was hosted at the Wolfe's house. It was wild and messy and, with no disrespect towards Mrs. Wolfe, nothing Clawd hadn't seen before.

The big werewolf felt totally Alpha; he earned his team's love and respect. It felt great! The weeks of tough practice and, going against his gentle nature, iron-pawed drills paid off in the best ways.

The big dude felt pats on his back all night. The most significant one was the gentle poking from the Fearleading captain.

Cleo rarely complimented anyone because she was too distracted with herself. And even though she thought up a fabulous losing-cheer, her winning cheer was far more impressive. The chance to have done that was done with Clawd's winning leadership.

The bandaged diva didn't have to lose anything to give an almost as awesome monster a compliment.

The music was banging so Cleo didn't waste her voice trying to scream over it. She could have but that would've defeated the purpose of what she was trying to do.

She pointed to her full sparkling lips as she mouthed, "Well done."

Knowing this was a step off her pedestal, Clawd smiled and nodded in appreciation. He gave her a thumbs-up in show equal respect.

In that second, a bolt of lighting hit Cleo in the back. It struck through her body, right into her heart. She felt her head spin and when her mind centered, her eyes landed on the tall, dark and fiercely handsome werewolf.

The werewolf who could sit as a king of Monster High, next to Cleo or behind, it needn't be set in stone at the moment.

Cleo deserved the best, that night Clawd had proven to be the best. He was exactly the kind of wolf-man she should have. Energetic, loyal, very soft fur- what more could a ghoul ask for?

Maybe it was the atmosphere of the party and it's ecstasy but Clawd felt he same for Cleo that night. There was a zing in his back that told him all he'd ever want was in Cleo's beautiful golden-wrapped body.

With a smile as saucy as the best barbeque in Hexas, Cleo walked towards the stairs. She assumed there would be many an empty bedrooms because the rest of the Wolfe family left for Clawd's victory party.

The sparkling beauty decided in that whirlwind minute that she would provide the greatest honor for Clawd that night.

She was on the second step; Clawd was still on the dance floor- just staring at her beautiful ass and long, lovely legs.

Being patience was not in Cleo's list of talents; the Mummy whistled for him to follow.

It didn't take long for a goofy grin to spread on Clawd's face. Ears up and veins singing, Clawd moved through the thick crowd to follow his sudden love's trail.

His sister saw this and tried to keep her claws in. Clawdeen was so proud of her brother and wanted him to have joy that night. The she-wolf still had a low opinion of Cleo and didn't like the ancient old ghoul worming her way into Clawd's pants.

But she wouldn't embarrass her brother that night. Instead she would party with her beastie. Clawdeen prayed to the moon that Cleo was such a lousy lay that Clawd wouldn't fall in love with her. _May her sandy lady parts repulse him_.

To Clawdeen's chagrin, Cleo and Clawd went out for a few weeks. Cleo was a bossy, controlling, unsympathetic girlfriend and Clawd was too polite to dump her.

It wasn't until a snake-hawked cutie came on the scene that Clawdeen thought her brother had the chance to be happy again.

Clawdeen and her best friend in the world, Draculaura, tried clever manipulation to break Cleo off of Clawd. They tried to push Cleo further into the scaly arms of a new boy. Adored by all the ghouls of Monster High (desirable for a ghoul who needed to have the best of everyone), seemed to not be turned off by Cleo's horrible personality (amazing fortitude)- this all made Deuce a good candidate to be Cleo's boyfriend.

The bump in their road plan was Deuce and Clawd were friends. Bros, and bros put one another before…princesses.

The prim and proper vampire saw that Deuce was fighting eternal feelings about the situation. She pitied the gorgon who hadn't hurt anyone before and felt a twinge of guilt for putting him in the middle of the Wolves vs Cleo stalemate.

Clawdeen was less tenderhearted.

"I'm telling Clawd. I don't care if he hates me, I'm not letting those two-faced tramps run circles around him."

"Dhat's not how dhis has to go!" Draculaura was a hopeless romantic- it clouded her character judgment.

The ghouls were discussing what to do next as they waited for the game to start. Students were getting snacks and picking out early seats in the gym. Charlie's Imps were watching Ghoulia double check the Fearleading Squad.

She was Cleo's right hand ghoul- the mummy trusted her bestfriend with her family's life-giving incantations. Double-checking was actually a soothing act for Cleo, but she was conversing with her wolf-man.

"What do you mean you don't like Lady Blah-Blah-Blah?!" Cleo was discussing the new routine she'd invented.

She was outside the team's locker room, holding Clawd up from changing.

"Look, maybe it's a ghoul thing, but I just don't see why it changes-" The werewolf wanted to care more about fearleading but it was really hard.

Clawd pleaded for her to see his side. Cleo was angrily stunned when she realized Clawd thought they were only talking about Fearleading choreography. He didn't realize Cleo was trying to talk about herself and her needs.

"You're impossible!" Cleo continuously poked his rock-hard stomach.

Once upon a time Cleo went weak-kneed seeing and feeling Clawd's abs but his lack of imagination made him predictable in lovemaking. The same position over and over again…

Giving up on speaking at the Casketball captain, Cleo stormed off to a corner to make a private call.

When she was alone in an abandoned classroom, Cleo pressed the green heart on her contacts list.

After one ring, he answered. "Sup, babe?"

"What am I, a baby pig?" Cleo put her phone-holding arm's elbow in her other hand and leaned against a black board.

"You're juicy, but far from a baby. It's a term of endearment, Cleo."

"So you do know my name." She had a rare, classical name and loved hearing him say it.

"Is this a trivia game or do you want some serious insight from me?" Deuce was hanging out in the parking lot.

He got a ride from his amphibian friend, Naveen. They use to be each other's bat-wing-men but Deuce had let his pal down recently.

Naveen saw the stupid smirk on the gorgon's face- the green, mucus-secreting monster knew the reason he'd lost his pal. The frog-man hoped Deuce was smarter than to fall into the trap of a pretty ghoul. It turns out he was wrong. Naveen didn't know who she was but hoped she was a nice girl.

"Lady Blah-Blah-Blah. Your thoughts?" Cleo thought that was enough to go on, even if boys weren't as smart as ghouls.

"Her music is crap."

Cleo was about to hang up on him but then he said-

"But she's a killer performer. I give props to that."

With that confirmation, Cleo was satisfied with her decisions in life.

"I'm telling Clawd after the game."

"Bracing me for a brawl?"

Chewing on her pinky nail, Cleo told him, "Just imagine the prize. Imagine her wearing only Jimmy Chew's."

Knowing if she was talking about underwear or jewelry did not matter to Deuce. "I really wish it wasn't him."

Taking a step back from her pyramid of happiness, Cleo understood what he meant. "Let me tell you what makes this not so bad. I witnessed the greatest empire of the world, Deuce. I watched it fall. Nothing lasts, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun in the sun. Or moonlight."

"You are so hot when you get profound." Despite all the bad in this situation, it was cool moments like these that made it all worth it.

Though she wanted to hear more sweet things, the game was on its way. Cleo hung up but texted Xs and Os as she walked to her pom-poms.

Ghoulia's checklist said they were up to standards. Except Gretchen, the snaggle-toothed ghoul hadn't polished her talons. It was a small blemish only Cleo would notice but they needed her to catch the hefty elf ghoul (Cleo kept her because of political reasons).

"Make Monster High, mostly me, dazzling or you get the hose." Cleo's pep talks were always great motivation; they lasted in the fearleaders' dreams.

The opening cheer, inspired by the questionably sane Lady Blah-Blah-Blah, was spectacular.

From his seat in the bleachers, Deuce watched the captain's every twist and twirl. The inspiration from Lady Blah-Blah-Blah added a lot more hip action in their routine and dried the mouths of many students that night. Cleo danced in front of the others and made a fangastic centerpiece.

By the end, Cleo fell sideways mid jump, to be comfortable caught by her team members. The other girls lifted her up, the Mummy's arrogance shined bright as she floated happily to the roaring crowd.

Just as their song ended, and the fearleaders were getting ready to set her down Cleo sent kisses to the crowd.

She saw the glare come off of Deuce's glasses. His almost- normie-complexion stood pale in the colorful waves of the other students. Even so, Deuce was still the most exotic monster the school had to show off. Even if he dressed like he didn't care, he was still the coolest monster in Cleo's (mirror-less) view.

The gorgon smiled when he knew he caught her eye. Cleo's last blow-away kiss was done slowly and aimed specifically in one solid direction.

Four bright yellow eyes saw this affectionate action. Clawdeen was sitting in the three monsters aside from Deuce. She growled loudly, but it didn't disturb the chatter of the crowd.

Secret kisses in the wide open; Draculaura imagined what it felt like to have blood rushing in her veins. Cleo and Deuce were despicable people but they made for good fluff.

Since Cleo's demand, Clawd tried to pay more attention to her Fearleading dances. Now with his yellow eyes open, he saw what the Ghostly Gossip was talking about. The wolf-man didn't like to feed gossip but seeing the real news flash in front of him was an awakening. Not a fun one.

It wasn't a full moon that night, but the BMOC felt his senses go feral.

"Clawd won the game of course, but there were bruises on the opposing team that night." Ghoulia moaned to her ghoul friends.

She, Draculaura and Clawdeen were telling their ghoulfriends a story while they drove to the Katy Scary concert. Frankie and Abbey were hearing the story for the first time. Lagoona was a witness to what happened all those moons ago, but with nothing on the radio she listened.

"Cleo didn't notice the carnage because she was," How to moan this nicely the zombie wondered, "well, preoccupied with other matters."

"Does my hair look sweaty to you?" The vain Mummy stopped paying attention to the games when she felt herself becoming drab in the visual areas.

Cleo didn't question too hard why Ghoulia was covering her eyes with a microphone. The blue ghoul was painfully shy so Cleo imagined she caught the eye of boy and didn't know what to do. A good friend would ask what was wrong- Cleo instead filed her nails.

The tan ghoul thought of how Deuce would look if she put him in a tie and KoKo Gorille suit. Add a diamond design on the sleeves and get him new sunglasses, Cleo imagined she could enhance his hotness to make even more ghouls hearts break in jealousy.

By the time the game ended, Clawd had worked out his feelings about Deuce and Cleo. It didn't take long for him to get over the jealousy; one fake drive in cleared that up.

The werewolf realized by the time he stepped back to a fade away jump shot that he didn't like Cleo like he did their first night. That was their peek and it went downhill from there. Cleo did her thing, he did his and they grew accustomed to that. They didn't really bother one another so they didn't have reason to break up.

Now their reason was Cleo was a two-timing ghoul with a black heart.

And Deuce, his bluddy, his pal, the real loss to Clawd, had a lot to answer for. Deuce being a man-whore didn't bother Clawd because he was actually a respectful man-whore (treated his dates nicely during and after) and Clawd trusted the dude since he never went after his sister.

The initial reason Deuce said was Clawdeen gave off the vibe that gorgon wasn't the kind of monster Clawdeen liked. She had Draculuara with her, all the time, and they were close enough. Really close…freeze, back to Deuce. Deuce sucks.

Cleo could get buried for another million years but Clawd was eternally fighting with the idea of pounding a bro who he thought was a real bro.

With a final throw, Clawd won the game. Cleo cheered merrily, facing the bleachers instead of him.

The werewolf pushed through his happy teammates and waited for 'his girlfriend' to be done with her little dance. She was nice from behind- if anything Clawd would miss that.

With a grand final pyramid, Cleo's favorite part of the routine, the night was over and the monsters could go home.

Checking her stats with Ghoulia, it seemed she was still behind in the Fearbook polls. That was disappointing, but they had a week left to win at least five more points and win the crown.

Cleo's cheerful, cunning thoughts of how to achieve that were interrupted by a big hand grabbing her arm.

It didn't hurt, but the idea of Clawd grabbing her like this was uncharacteristic.

"We need to talk."

"Pookie, I must change and fix this one eyelash and-"

Towering over her was easy as pie, but this time Cleo felt he was doing it to say something. "Now."

Taking his growl serious, Cleo put on a sharp look and said. "Alright then." She pulled her arm out of his grip (because he let her), "Don't make me get a newspaper."

Any other time Clawd would smirk. Not that night. Ghoulia knew Clawd wouldn't harm a mutant-fly but through her glasses she saw something stormy was brewing in the BMOC.

Draculaura and Clawdeen stayed in their seats, waiting for the crowd to thin. They were watching Clawd do his own work. Freely showing her excitement, Clawdeen bounced in her seat like she was receiving a new treat.

Draculaura's pink, pointy ears heard about eight or so snakes hissing from behind.

"Deuce, are you coming or what?" Naveen asked, bored of sitting and not seeing what his friend was waiting for. He hoped it wasn't the pig-tails ghoul or her furry friend.

"Go on dude, I'm gonna hang back." _In case anyone needs anything defending or understanding._

"The game's over, pal."

A game was the last thing he'd call it, but Deuce didn't say much but "Not yet, V, not yet."


	7. Edges Soften

"So now you're the Princess of Deuce's Fan Club! " Clawd wasn't screaming, but he was furious all the same.

Cleo's thickly painted eyes angled unnaturally diagonally. "I am not now, nor will I ever be anyone's fangirl!"

They were still in their uniforms as they talked in the abandon classroom. Only ghosts were left in the halls of Monster High.

"I don't get it! If you wanted to jump on the punk-green-merry-go-round, then why didn't we just break up!?"

"Things were complicated!"

Such a stupid, untrue remark left Clawd speechless. He wanted to throw so many accusations; like Cleo only wanted to string dudes along for her giant ego. Or that she was a slut who did it with Deuce, he didn't call back and whatever she thought was happening was all in her head.

But that was cruel and with all Deuce's flaws, he still wouldn't treat a ghoul like that.

Clawd took a few huffs in and out and calmly asked, "Can you tell what I did wrong as your boyfriend?"

His sincerity was touching it needled Cleo. She made that apparently as she coolly told him- "You did nothing wrong. It made all this so much more harder on me."

Clawd arched an eyebrow and titled his head. His ears flopped in dry confusion.

"How exactly?"

"You were so good to me, so loyal and always a cuddly grin on. You were a very nice boyfriend." Cleo told the werewolf she use to love.

She never would love him again, but at one point Cleo saw Clawd as a worthy monster. They probably would've lasted longer if the mummy hadn't found someone sexier and more fun.

"And you think Deuce will do better?" Talking bad about his bro wasn't as bad as his bro sneaking around with his girlfriend. "I can't believe he'd-"

"FOR THE RECORD," Cleo spoke over the werewolf, "Deuce never laid a hand on me, even though he wants to. All we've done is talk. And in those talks his main concern was his friendship with you."

_If not for the heavy evident of Deuce's former love life, I'd imagine he'd play for your team;_ Cleo thought this but didn't want to confuse the sweet, naïve Clawd.

Clawd did not get what she was hinting. He guessed she was trying to say, "So, do you think you could convince Deuce to become a point guard?"

"Are you serious?" _You've just peaked at dating and you're still worried about your team,_ Cleo was very ready to take this sad puppy off her speed dial.

"I can live with us breaking up, but it'd be nice if you did this for me."

_This boy has such messed up priorities, _Cleo tested her memory of which five pumps she left in her locker.

And now the final limestone brick was laid. Now was the time to be elegant and dignified, Cleo raised her chin and put on a regal glaze.

"Clawd Wolfe, you are relived from the duties of being my boyfriend. Your services were appreciated but they, and all the benefits are now and forever rendered over." Cleo found this declaration to be courteous and sufficiently affectionate.

To Clawd's floppy dog-ears it sounded pretentious. What he said, intentionally warmly was "Alright, Cleo."

It was a wonder to Cleo what happened to eloquence in men. Draculaura's daddy was a master of word play and the skill ended in his generation it seemed.

Deuce wasn't an exception to this sad fact but with the right poking Cleo imagined she could push some lyrical promises out of him.

Giving a wrapped, sparking hand to his bigger, sharper clawed, Cleo shook it as an official end. There was a short moment of lingering; Cleo felt the heat from the game and the fast pulse in him.

They let everything end there- resentment, regrets, nothing left.

"Well, that was not my best work." Cupid swung back a Pink Lady.

The prissy ghoul was sharing romance secrets with Clawdeen and Draculaura. She'd found the two ghouls trying to spy on Clawd and Cleo's breakup. It involved Clawdeen trying to lower her best-friend (who'd never learned to transform into a bat) with a strong vine off the edge of Monster High's roof. Luckily they found the wrong window, a window Cupid happened to be hanging out in (for her own reasons).

When asked, "What are you doing?" Clawdeen had a moment of clarity. The she-wolf realized she (and Lala) had gone too far.

They sat in Cupid's radio studio and told their Charlie's Imps story. Cupid found it ruefully charming and gave them points for trying. She even admitted that they'd done a better job with Cleo's heart than her work provided.

"I really thought they'd fit. I mean it's the classic head fearleading princess with the top dog jock of the school. I overlooked the daring darling because he was spreading the seeds of love with other ghouls." Cupid felt she could only share with these two nutjobs.

Clawdeen was being polite sipping the Pink Ladies Cupid made them- her preference was something with more kick and silverdust. The faux risk of that made drinking better for Clawdeen's taste buds.

Draculaura had lost the sense of taste decades ago when she became a vegan. She could eat (almost) anything now and relished in the flavor of nonviolent edibles.

"Even now I don't understand the spark they made. It's like a square peg in a circular hole- Cleo is the kind of ghoul who needs a solid boyfriend to constantly be there for her, to remind her she's perfect (Cupid shook her head goofily) and hold her purse. But Deuce is a restless kind of boy- despite his stone metaphors Deuce is not a steady boy; he really likes doing whatever he wants when he wants to."

"Well, they're both self-absorbed so they have that in common." Clawdeen offered some perspective to Cupid's confusion.

Cupid's curls shook as she disagreed with Clawdeen on a point. "The boy's not self-absorbed so much as he is just 'whatever's cool, dude', and I can see that getting under Cleo's gold-trimmed wrappings in a Peloponnesian minute. "

"You know vhat?" A whoozy high-pitch voice counter-argued, "I say vho are ve to say vho can and can't fall in love with, and date and make it last forever. Or at least a veek, or foreve- ya know? Love is so beautiful; ve should just let dhem go at it, okay? Just go crazy vith dhe loving and dhe sucking and…"

Cupid whispered into the werewolf's pointy ears, "I think your ghoul's a lightweight."

Draculaura's big grey eyes weren't matching directions but Clawdeen knew she'd remember everything in the morning.

The werewolf smiled at her wiser beastie. "I think she's on target."

Years later Clawdeen's comment still lite up Lala's unmoving, big heart.

"And dhat's vhy you're dhe love of my life." The pink Lolita-dressed ghoul told her beastie- she put a sparkling heart nail to her lips. "Please don't dell my boyfriend."

The werewolf giggled and took her best-friend's lacy hand.

"Cross my heart and look out of date." Clawdeen had a big, happy grin and the whiteness of the smile distracted Draculaura from the road.

Lagoona had her webbed hands on the wheel Lala apparently forgot about and back-seat drove them out of disaster.

They were only a block away from the concert. Lagoona didn't put a crab in Ula-D's shorts by nagging her driving. Abbey felt better educated about her friends and silently soaked that in. The white-blue-&-pink haired ghoul went through the photos of baby yaks on her iCoffin. She, Ghoulia (who was reading a science journal/ graphic novel on her deluxe iCoffin), Lagoona and Frankie were in Draculuara's backseat.

The lovely mint-green girl rubbed her sea-foam-green friend's shoulder in kind comfort. Lagoona wasn't freaked out about the almost crash- she found Lala and Clawdeen's pinky holding too cute to blow waves over.

Frankie's electric heart felt so big and full that she could power Scaris for a week. She always thought Cleo and Deuce were a great couple and now, looking at the old Fearbook all her fears and confusions were hushed.

The page she found was Clawd& Cleo were voted 'Cutest Couple' that year. The picture of them kissing took up an entire page, and the page after it was the Deuce Fan Club listed between the ZAPCAP (Zombies against processed, cheap awful food) and Heath's Top 3 most embarrassing blunders.

This confused Frankie at first – how could Cleo ever be in a couples' picture without Deuce?

Especially when her friends told her how important and eternal pictures were. But then, without them having to tell her, Frankie realized the moments in time aren't what lasted forever- it was how significantly cute their outfits were. With or without her true love, Cleo still had great style and that was worth keeping the picture in the book.

ANDTHEPARTTHATTHEGHOULSDIDN'TSEEBUTREALLYNEEDSTOBE INTHISSTORY

Deuce leaned against the outside gym of Monster High, anticipating screaming. He was ready for any reason for their coming- any reason to be next to Cleo when she needed him.

A disturbing thought that maybe Monster High's 'Cutest Couple' was making up twisted knots in the snake-hawked boy's stomach. His options if that were true; A. take his dignity and forget he ever tried to get with the Mummy. B, forget dignity all together and get Cleo no matter how big the other dude is. C. Find a dude with a time machine and prevent this mess from ever starting.

Cleo's cute, nerdy friend was a genius so maybe had one in secret. Deuce took a minute to compare the contrasting friendship- then he considered how he'd look with Cleo. All the contrast there made him grin and consider a playlist.

He was organizing whether to put "Dip You in Chocolate" along with "Let's Set the Planet Ablaze" when a strong hand punched his shoulder.

Cool bruise to stare at later, but in that moment Deuce's snakes hissed viciously. He turned around, fingers to his sunglasses, and braced for Clawd to go again.

"Dude!"

"Yeah."

"I mean,"

"I know."

"Aww, dude." Deuce felt guiltier that Clawd wasn't letting feel as guilty as he deserved.

"Bro, let it be." Clawd held out a paw for his scaly friend to shake.

The Fates were finally being kind to him; Deuce took the hand then pulled Clawd into a rough half-hug.

The fury dude accepted his bluddy and they didn't have anything else to say.

"Later, bro." Clawd slung his gym bag over his wide shoulders and made for home. He'd deserved a night with his waiting teammates.

Telling Clawd he was the best bro a guy could ask for was too gooey to even pretend to imagine saying, so Deuce said, "Peace, dude."

Just as his wolf-pal got on all fours and ran home (cause it was faster than a cab), Deuce heard a ringtone. It was a text message from a ghoul without a boyfriend and in desperate need of a home-baked cupcake.

…

The fountain in front of Monster High was not glamorous or even pretty. Cleo wished her father would donate more to the school, like a better architect, so her place of learning wouldn't be so sore on her royal eyes.

But Cleo would wait until her company had arrived. When Clawd left she did everything the school's ghoul room could do for her touch-up. It'd left her looking stunning instead of drop-dead-gorgeous; it would just have to do.

The impatience ghoul was about to send another text message demanding him to get the lead out when he felt another presence walk up behind her.

_This is the moment, kill him with lust! _Cleo stood poised with her behind and exposed back to her male company.

"You're horrible for keeping me waiting." Cleo warned- she wouldn't let him see her smile yet. First a little playful begging on his part then the gracious diva would let him hold and squeeze her like a python.

"Oh, baby, Daddy's here for his Mummy, yes he is."

Cleo dropped the alluring pose and turned around angrily to yell, "HEATH! What in Ra's name are you doing here! "

The fiery boy played with his face in a way he thought was attractive- he alone. "Cleo, no more games. The big, bad wolf can't blow me away. Unlike you, with your fly away kisses, you hot little cheater you."

When Cleo blew Deuce a kiss at the game neither of them noticed that Heath was sitting behind the snake-hawk.

The idea was so revolting Cleo had to tell her body to hold back the vomit. The brain-dead yellow boy was approaching to bravely put his hands around Cleo's middle wraps when the mummy saw what she wanted had arrived.

Without removing her eyes from his perfect silhouette, Cleo pushed the little pest into the fountain so Deuce could see her better.

Heath realized he wouldn't drown in the few inches of water and shot his head up again.

"Hey, your Royal Hotness, what gives?" Heath's red hair was sticky with algae.

Resetting her alluring pose to accent her front half, Cleo informed the wet match- "Step off, loser! Can't you see a real man approaches."

Cleo walked away from the fountain to meet her favorite monster in the world (behind herself, of course).

She and Deuce stopped with the length of an index finger between them.

"Hey." Deuce said, appreciating all the work Cleo put into making herself look stunning.

"Hello." The mummy said, liking the fact that her gorgon looked good without even trying.

...

The uncouth band posters, unnecessary amount of lime green clothing on the floor and the unorganized closest did not bother Cleo as much as it could have (for the time being).

Later she would demand vehemently for Deuce to clean because like hell the princess allowed herself to be surrounded by such filth for more than one night.

The first night Cleo learned how much a forked tongue cut the inside of her mouth. The metal taste she'd grow to adore along with the musky cucumber smell.

Deuce liked the smallness of Cleo's chest. There was the rest of her to grab but the lack of sore boobs made her more durable for closeness.

The mummy was sitting against his bed board, clothes and all. Deuce was pushing her against it as they kissed and worked their way into initiating their relationship.

One arm was on Cleo's shoulder, and against the bed board, while the tattooed arm rested behind her back. Cleo's wrapped arms were simply around his neck, though she was planning on going south soon.

To get a breathe, Deuce pulled back kissed the side of Cleo's neck.

"I like you, (kiss) a lot."

"I know." Cleo happily told him, her eyes met the beady eyes of his snakes. Cleo's heart skipped, she adored the bonus of having a gorgon as a boyfriend. "Before you take off your glasses, I made a playlist for this."

"Cool." Deuce backed off of her completely and motioned towards his sound system.

From top to bottom to foot, Deuce liked what Cleo had to offer. Clicking in her iCoffin, Cleo put the speakers on loud- the beat of her pop song started.

Cleo's cool points dropped a bit in Deuce's mind.

The song was painfully bubbily- the tan ghoul with beautiful curves still appealed to him physically. But even as she pushed him back against the bed board and took in former position on being on top, Deuce couldn't get it up.

When he weakly kissed back, Cleo testily pushed off to hear an explanation.

"I'm sorry, but I can't bone a woman to squeaky mouse music." Deuce thought he said this as gently as he could.

The death glare from Cleo scared his snakes but when he wouldn't change his opinion, Cleo had to hit him with a pillow.

"Tell me, Mr. Too-Cool-for-Romantic-Melodies, what would you bone to?" The princess wasn't submitting so much as she was testing him.

With remote off his bed-side drawer and in his hand, Deuce changed his music box to play one of his top eighty favorite songs.

The tempo was loud and made Cleo think of dirty peasants who let their hair grow out and wore the same outfits every day.

She held up her hand to prevent Deuce from pulling her back on top of him.

"I've heard better drum beats at human sacrifices." Cleo questioned Deuce's sanity for even calling such incoherent dribbling music.

Deuce rested his head back, "Okay, babe, choose something from my stuff."

She and Clawd hadn't only been broken up for an hour; Cleo could begin thinning the field of undesirables in search of her real prince.

There was a ring from Deuce's pocket.

Curious to see what little skank was trying to call her man, Cleo took Deuce's phone. Before Deuce could ask for his iCoffin back, Cleo answered the call.

"Hello, this is Deuce's phone- he can't come to now or you ever again because he's about to jackhammer his new girlfriend (beat) Yes he has one now! (beat) Well, you sound fat! (beat) Do you know whom you're speaking to! (beat) Get buried alive, you filthy hag!" Cleo pressed the button that turned his phone off.

"Call your mother back later." Cleo's teal eyes were half opened and her expression was ice and fire at the same time.

"You can play whatever song you want." Deuce was definite he could go the night and enjoy it.

Happy that he finally got the picture of who was always needed to be pleased, Cleo decided to show a little mercy. "Hold that thought, Deucey."

Cleo got up one last time to look through the gorgon's cd collection. It was amazing he still had one; the mummy appreciated monsters in touch with viable antiques.

Most of the titles were violent and random utensils but among the unrecognizable artists, Cleo found on album she truly liked. She pulled it out, put it in the music box and pressed play.

Hearing the ballad, Deuce took off his sunglasses and put in his contacts.

They only lasted a few hours, and while not very expensive Deuce still preferred wearing sunglasses. Neither was dependable 24/7 but at least sunglasses allowed him to nod off in class without questions.

His face looked naked without the shades, but Cleo liked getting her boyfriend naked.

The ancient princess went back into Deuce's arms. They continued to kiss, and Cleo knew when she fully unwrapped she'd have to explain a few things about herself. Cleo would later tell the dark story of her sacred torso and what being resurrected was really about.

The old jeans sled down and boyish t-shirt off, Cleo decided then was a efficient time to start talking about herself.

"I like you too, but you have to remember a few things about me if this is going to go past tonight."

Taking everything off but her earrings and loosening the bandages around her bottom half, Deuce was inclined to do whatever she asked.

"I'm always right, rarely nice and I expect you to keep up with me when I'm dealing with monsters who don't understand why I'm so wonderful first glance." These were not difficult tasks, in Cleo's mind, and the very least things she could ask on their first date. Cleo was on top and they both liked it that way.

Accepting the good, the bad, and the truly wonderful Deuce said, "Cool with me. Now come here."

**D48RH479U-9-EDMIOFY4FH784GD78GDRUNFO84YF7HF48UOJDO **

**Author's note**

**The songs were-**

**Selena Gomez's Naturally**

**Def Leppard's Pour some Sugar on Me**

**Waiting for a Girl like You- any verison**


	8. Author's Note

Author's Note

I considered there were some loose ends I should tie.

1st, Jerry the Fly does leave Casketball but doesn't go to Football. The gossip about him being indecisive affected his nerves badly and he checked into a hospital for a little while.

2nd, because the position was open then Deuce takes it and if you watch the movies you'd see he and Clawd are great pals.

3rd, if you were wondering where Cleo was during the Katy Scary concert, I'd say she was hanging out with Deuce that night. I'd type that Deuce felt he'd influenced her music taste in a positive way, though she'd hate to admit it.

4th, who won the Most Popular contest? Cleo, by the influence of the werepups; I doubt anyone would've voted for her or Deuce after the scandal of them holding hands the day after she broke up with Clawd, but the votes were tallied before minds were changed.

Well, that was fun to write.

Cleuce is my OTP (for right now) and because Cleo De Nile is a very interesting character I can see a lot of my one-shots centered on her.

Oh, absolutely nothing belongs to me-

The characters are from MATTEL and the references belong to their respective owners.


End file.
